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Bruce Wayne (Prime Earth) (Dc Comics)
History Batman is the superhero protector of Gotham City, a man dressed like a bat who fights against evil and strikes terror into the hearts of criminals everywhere. In his secret identity he is Bruce Wayne, billionaire industrialist and notorious playboy. Although he has no superhuman powers, he is one of the world's smartest men and greatest fighters. His physical prowess and technical ingenuity make him an incredibly dangerous opponent. He is also a founding member of the Justice League. Early Life : Main article: Batman Origins Bruce Wayne was born to the wealthy doctor Thomas Wayneand his wife Martha, who were themselves members of the prestigious Wayne and Kane families of Gotham City, respectively. When he was very young, Bruce's mother Martha was expecting a second child to be named Thomas Wayne, Jr. However, because of her intent to found a school for the underprivileged in Gotham, she was targeted by the manipulative Court of Owls, who arranged for her to get into a car accident. She and Bruce survived, but the accident forced Martha into premature labour, and the baby was lost.2 While on vacation to forget about these events, the Wayne Family butler, Jarvis Pennyworth was killed by one of the Court of Owls' Talons. A letter he'd written to his son Alfred, warning him away from the beleaguered Wayne family, was never delivered. As such, Alfred - who had been an actor at the Globe Theatre at the time3 and a military medic before that, travelled to Gotham City to take up his father's place, serving the Waynes as butler.4 The Waynes' murder As he grew older, his family's reputation made Bruce restless, and he began sneaking out of school to visit Gotham City, where he wouldn't be so easily recognized.5 On one such outing, he was picked up by Officer Jim Gordon and his partner on their patrol. En route back to the station, Bruce witnessed Jim accepting a trenchcoat as a bribe from a tailor - though neither realized it was a bribe at the time - but Bruce would remember it as an indicator of Jim's character. After his parents came to retrieve him, the Waynes went to see The Mark of Zorro at the Monarch Theater. After the film, a mugger named Joe Chill attempted to rob them at gunpoint, and panicked, shooting both Thomas and Martha dead.6 After their deaths, Bruce became obsessed with the search for meaning in their loss. He thought perhaps the mythical Court of Owls was responsible, but he never found anything to prove it.7 Troubled by grief, Bruce attempted to erase his memory with electroshock therapy, but chose not to go through with it, and to use his pain as a motivator.8 At the age of 18, he used his relationship with Erin McKillen9 - a daughter of the Irish mob, and with whom he attended Roxbury Academy10 - to locate Joe Chill, and learned that he had simply needed the money, and there was no deeper meaning to his parents' deaths.11 Travels and Training Fuelled by the loss of his parents, Bruce began training in martial arts and sword-fighting.12 After he learned the truth about Joe Chill, Bruce began travelling the world, learning the arts of stunt-driving5, invention13, and intimidation.14 Near the end of his travels, Bruce went to the Himalayas to train with Shihan Matsuda, who taught him to fight with the katana. He soon struck up a romance with the sword-sharpener's daughter, Mio. Matsuda warned him against creating personal ties with others, and to embrace his darker side. Matsuda's wife, though encouraged it, and because of Bruce's feelings for her, he inadvertently let an assassin into the Matsuda household. In the following course of events, Bruce discovered that Mio had been hired by Matsuda's wife to seduce him and then kill Matsuda. Both women and Matsuda himself were gravely injured, but before he died, Matsuda warned him that death is what would come of fostering close personal relationships. Taking this lesson to heart, and after three long years of absence, Bruce finally returned to Gotham.15 The Zero Year With only his mission in mind and no care for his legacy as a Wayne, Bruce moved himself out of Wayne Manorand into a brownstone on Park Row from which he based his early attempts to infiltrate the Red Hood Gang after only six weeks back.16 Despite trying to remain off the grid, Bruce's uncle Philip Kane had kept tabs on him and had also gained control of Wayne Enterprises in Bruce's absence, hiring strategist Edward Nygma, who advised him to have Bruce killed if he wouldn't play ball.5 Philip outed Bruce's return to the media. When Bruce refused to return to the company while his uncle was selling weapons, Nygma advised Philip to have Bruce killed, and the Red Hood Gang soon attempted just that by blowing up Bruce's brownstone with him inside.13 Injured, Bruce crawled back to Wayne Manor and, in his father's study, decided to take on the appearance of a bat.14 The fall of Red Hood One Using the fact that he was outed to his advantage, Bruce called a press conference outside the ACE Chemical plant to expose the Red Hood Gang's plans to the media. The gang attempted to disrupt it, and inside the plant, Bruce used a blackout to debut the Batsuit. Through blackmail, Philip was recruited into the Red Hood Gang, and when he failed to kill the Batman, he was shot dead. In fighting with Red Hood One, Batman knocked the man into a vat of chemicals, and he was thought dead. Despite having won that battle, Nygma returned to detonate an EMP blast that left the entire city in the dark.17 Commissioner Loeb declared the Batman a vigilante criminal as Bruce began investigating a series of murders committed by a disgruntled Waynetech employee, while building a jammer to prevent another EMP attack when power was restored.18The ex-employee, Dr. Karl Helfern was challenging enough that Batman allied himself begrudgingly with Jim Gordon, and together they learned that Helfern was the Riddler's pawn.19 Their plan to defeat both men failed, and the jammer was destroyed such that when the power was restored, the Riddler stole complete control of the power grid, shutting it down and flooding the city.20 In the following months, the city fell into ruin, with the Riddler nightly challenging the citizens to best him with a riddle in order to earn back civilization.21 Allying with Jim Gordon and Lucius Fox, Batman planned to locate the Riddler by piggybacking his signal during the challenge.22 The plan failed, but Batman managed to find the Riddler in the place they'd first met, and best him in a battle of wits, both restoring power and saving the city from an inevitable air-strike. Afterwards, Bruce and Lucius began rebuilding Wayne Enterprises, and Jim Gordon was promoted to Commissioner in Loeb's stead.23 The Justice League While investigating the appearance of Parademons, Batman encountered Green Lantern for the first time, and the two teamed up. Believing them to be aliens, the pair sought Superman for answers,24 and he attacked them, thinking they were a threat, prompting Lantern to call on The Flash for help until Superman was convinced of their good intentions.25 Joined by Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg in fighting off the Parademons attack, the team soon learned that Darkseid of Apokolips was behind the invasion.26 It was Batman who convinced the heroes to work together as a team, and then secretly travelled to Apokolips in search of a kidnapped Superman, whom he then rescued from Darkseid's torturers. Upon their return to Earth, they forced Darkseid back to his homeworld, and received praise and recognition. Batman insisted that they remain a team in order to maintain public approval.27 Year Two and the War of Jokes and Riddles Gordon lights the Bat-Signal for the first time Not long after the Zero Year, Batman had his first confrontation with the resurfaced Red Hood One, now going by the name "the Joker". The clown had attempted to poison the Gotham Reservoir, only to be stopped by the Bat.28 Having created a prototypical version of it during the Zero Year, Jim Gordon took the risk of placing a Bat-Signal on the roof of the GCPD precinct.16 Batman for awhile worked closely with Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent in a war on organized crime until Dent was scarred with acid by the criminal Erin McKillen.29 Forced to choose a side Approximately a year after Zero Year, the Riddler broke out of prison and spurred a war between himself and the Joker, who had lost the ability to laugh, in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles". With each side recruiting all the villains they could to fight for them, the city was turned into a war zone for weeks, forcing Batman to choose a side to work with in order for the casualties to stop. Batman begrudgingly chose the Riddler and meticulously took out all of Joker's forces until only the clown was left. When Batman predictably betrayed the Riddler, Nygma surrendered and revealed that he orchestrated the entire war in an attempt to solve the riddle of how to make the Joker laugh again. Furious Riddler caused the deaths of so many innocent people for something so trivial, Batman lost control and attempted to stab Nygma in the face with a kitchen knife, only to be stopped by the Joker himself - this event becoming one of Batman's greatest failures.30 Around this time, Bruce took in young Dick Grayson after his parents were murdered by Tony Zucco. Without knowing Bruce's secret, Dick would sneak out at night, hunting Zucco, and the Batman would be there to protect him every time. Eventually, he allowed Dick to see the Batcave, and Dick revealed that he'd already deduced his warden's dual identity. With the common goal of justice, the pair began fighting crime as Batman and Robin.31 Other Early Adventures Within another year, Barbara Gordon had caught Batman's attention and was recruited into his crusade as Batgirl. Barbara only acted as a hero for less than a year before retiring to focus on her studies. Despite that, her father's position still made her a target, and she was shot by The Joker and remained paralyzed for three years.32Following Barbara's injury, Dick decided to quit being Robin and moved on to a new identity for himself as Nightwing. In an effort to take control of Gotham City, Bane ran Batman ragged, and then broke his back.33 Some time later, Ra's al Ghul attempted to eradicate the population of Gotham City using the Ebola Gulf-A Virus, and was thwarted by the Batman.34 Sometime after that, Batman caught orphan Jason Todd trying to steal prescription drugs from Dr. Leslie Thompkins. Believing that Todd had the potential to turn over a new leaf, Wayne offered him the vacant position of Robin and, when he accepted, trained him for months. However, soon after Jason had become active as a vigilante, he was lured into chasing a woman he believed to be his mother to the middle east - a setup by the Joker - and killed before Batman could save him.35 A legacy of Robins Eventually, Batman learned of Tim Drake - a talented young gymnast who had become obsessed with discovering his identity. Tim began trying to gain Batman's attention by electronically stealing funds from The Penguin, who found out and targeted his home. Forced to live with Wayne in witness protection, Batman finally offered to train him as his third Robin. Believing he should respect Todd's legacy, Tim devised a different alias he could take - Red Robin - and soon left Batman's side to lead the Teen Titans.36 Having encountered Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins some time ago, and fallen in love with his daughter Talia,37 Bruce was surprised years later when Talia came to Gotham and introduced him to his son, Damian, whom she had grown in a lab at an accelerated rate and trained to lead the League from birth. She intended for Bruce to train their son in the ways she could not, and in the hope of curbing his homicidal tendencies, he took on the boy as Robin to keep a close eye on him.38 Not long after taking on Damian, though, Bruce was seemingly killed by Darkseid,39 having in fact been sent back in time. While Nightwing eventually took on the role of Batman in his stead, training Damian as Robin,40Bruce fought his way forward through time.41 and upon his return, announced that he had been privately funding the Batman, and declared the creation of Batman Incorporated. The Court of Owls The Court of Owls watches over Gotham While Bruce Wayne revealed plans to revolutionize the city of Gotham, the GCPD uncovered a body with ties to the legend of the Court of Owls and a warning of an attempt against Bruce's life.42 Batman believed the Court of Owls were just a legend, but after taking a meeting with an interested business partner in Lincoln March, Bruce was nearly killed by an assassin dressed like an owl in Wayne Tower.43 While investigating the assassination attempt, Batman became trapped in an underground labyrinth where the very much real Court of Owls held him for eight days and attempted to drive him insane. Despite this, he managed to break his way into an underground portion of the Gotham River44 and was found and revived from cardiac arrest by Harper Row.45 The Talons attack Wayne Manor Urged on by Batman's interference, the Court of Owls elected to resurrect all of their undead Talonsfrom over a century of assassinations, in order to kill off several prominent Gothamites and regain full control of Gotham City.45 A swarm of assassins attacked Bruce Wayne at his home, but he was able to fend them off using an emergency robot-suit in the Batcave.46 After tracking the Court of Owls back to their hideout, Batman found all its members dead - poisoned by their food. Following clues to the ruins of a mental hospital, Batman learned that Lincoln March, his former business partner, was behind the betrayal within the Court. March believed himself to be Bruce's Wayne's younger brother, Thomas Wayne, Jr., 2 and that, when he was a boy, he had been taken in by the Court and raised to believe Martha Wayne was his mother. March grew to resent Bruce and took the role of King of the Owls to win control of the city for himself and to kill Bruce. In their encounter, Lincoln March escaped, leading Bruce to assume the Court of Owls would one day return.4 At that same time, a murderous vigilante called NoBody began attempting to win Bruce's son's loyalty away from him, encouraging him to break with Batman's no-kill policy. He soon realized that this man was Morgan Ducard, with whom he had trained in man-hunting some years ago.47 When Damian declined to join him, NoBody turned on him, and Batman was forced to save him. In the resulting battle, it was Damian who made the final blow and killed NoBody,48 causing his father to worry if he'd ever be able to train him not to perpetuate the cycle of violence.49 Death of the Family Having waited for nearly a year in hiding, the Joker reappeared at the GCPD Headquarters and killed several officers to signal his return to Batman, and to retrieve his face from the evidence locker, which he had cut off and left behind before his disappearance.50 The Joker then threatened to recreate one of his first recorded murders with Gotham's Mayor, but he killed all of the guards outside the Mayor's office instead, leaving disturbing frowns''instead of the trademark Joker smiles on their faces. Seeing a pattern in Joker's twisted recreations of past crimes, Batman went to the A.C.E. Chemical building, where a distraction provided by a reluctant Harley Quinnallowed the Joker to go to Wayne Manor and attack Alfred.51 The Joker returns to destroy the Bat-Family Once free, Batman returned to the Manor to find a cassette tape revealing that Alfred had been kidnapped and tortured. Confiding in Nightwing, Batman asked him to keep Alfred's kidnapping a secret, insisting that the Joker had not yet deduced his identity. Meeting next at the Gotham Reservoir, the Joker claimed that he ''did know everyone's identities, and promised to kill each of the allies who had made Batman weak within 72 hours.52 Bruce's allies compelled him to admit that after his second encounter with the Joker, he had found one of the Joker's cards in the Batcave, but had never believed that his identity was compromised. Insisting that his allies remain safe in the cave, Batman followed a lead to Arkham Asylum, where he learned that the Joker had taken over without being noticed.53 There, Batman discovered that the Joker has renovated and rearranged the building into a kind of castle, of which Batman was King, and he was Jester. The only way to find out what happened to his kidnapped allies, whom the Joker had captured in the interim, was to go along with the skit the madman put together and electrocute himself in his hot-wired "throne".54 Batman woke at a dinner table in the Batcave surrounded by his allies, all with bandaged faces. Removing the lids from the dinner platters in front of them, the Joker revealed each of their faces. After discovering that the bandages and severed faces were a fake-out, Batman chased down the Joker, who chose to fall into a chasm rather than allow Batman to reveal either of their identities, and spoil his fantasy. Despite everyone being alive and well, Bruce's insistence on keeping secrets the Joker's taunts drove a wedge between he and his family.55 The Demon Star & Gotham's Most Wanted Talia's conflict with Batman leaves their son caught in the middle Armed with the League of Assassins' power, Leviathan began taking over the city of Gotham, and in an effort to gain more information, Batman took on the identity of Matches Malone to infiltrate the crime ring. He was, however, betrayed to Leviathan and sentenced to death, requiring Damian - who had been grounded in the Batcave, to defy his father's wishes to save him.56 Batman was captured yet again by Man-Bat Commandos and put in a death trap by Talia, who had taken over Wayne Tower in the meantime. Against Batman's wishes, Alfred allowed Damian to leave the Batcave, once again, and help his father.57 While Batman escaped his death trap, Damian faced the villainous Leviathan agent the Heretic alone. Though he fought well, Damian was no match for it and he was skewered on the Heretic's blade, perishing.58 Damian is killed by the Heretic Thwarted in avenging his son, Bruce was thrown from the Tower, and later held a small, private funeral for Damian, even as his city was overrun by Leviathan and the Mayor declared him a menace, forcing Wayne Enterprises to cut funding to Batman Incorporated.59 Borrowing the Suit of Sorrows to face Talia and the Heretic, Batman transformed himself into a bat-creature60 After Batman pummeled the Heretic and discovered with disgust that he was a clone of Damian, the Heretic escaped Batman only to be executed by Talia for failing to follow her orders.61 Batman and Talia came to a final confrontation in the Batcave, with the woman forcing him to choose between taking her life or giving his life along with his city - with the trick being that she had already poisoned him. In a bid for Batman's life, Wingman offered the Oroboro device Talia sought, as a distraction, as the headmistress of Spyral shot her in the head, freeing the city of Leviathan's grasp. In the aftermath, Bruce Wayne was arrested, but charges were dropped. Upon his return to the manor, he and Alfred discovered that the corpses of both Damian and Talia had been dug up and stolen by Ra's al Ghul.62 Requiem for Damian Batman mourns Damian Damian's death left Bruce an emotional wreck,63 compounded by the fact that his romantic interest, Natalya Trusevich had been murdered by the Mad Hatter when he allowed her to get close to him.64 He began going through the five stages of grief, beginning with denial. Bruce began alienating his family but, after spending time with each of them however, Bruce began to accept that he had lost a son, and that he was not completely responsible, which allowed him to see that Alfred, too, had blamed himself and been going through pain.65 While attempting to recover from his grief, Batman was faced with the threat of The Wrath - a cop-killing arms dealer who had a vendetta against the GCPD, but soon defeated him.66 Forever Evil In the hopes of ridding the world of evil, Pandora tried to have members of the Justice League open Pandora's Box for her, believing that their virtuousness would prevent the calamity that occurred when she opened it.67Unbeknownst to her, a secret organization was using her as a pawn in a ploy to have the three Justice Leagues come into conflict. The leagues split up in order to discover their own solutions to the puzzle of Pandora's Box.68Batman headed the team who believed that there was a scientific explanation for the box and its apparent affect on Supermam.69 Upon their eventual convergence upon the box, the Leagues discovered that it was a doorway to another world, from which the Crime Syndicate emerged, and imprisoned the majority of the Justice Leagues within the Firestorm Matrix.70 Batman puts on the Sinestro Corps ring Only Batman and Catwoman evaded the Syndicate's imprisonment and, after bringing a critically injured Cyborg to S.T.A.R. Labs for repair, learned that Nightwing's secret identity had been revealed by the Syndicate. Together, Batman and Catwoman decided to seek him out and rescue him from imprisonment.71 While searching for more resources in a Wayne Enterprises storage facility, Bruce and Selina encountered Lex Luthor and his followers, who were also prepared to combat the Syndicate. Their confusion at Batman's survival was smothered by the arrival of Power Ring. Hoping to counter him, Batman donned a Sinestro Corps Ring, only to have it removed and destroyed.72 Fortunately, Sinestro, himself was drawn by the ring's energy, and killed Power Ring, suggesting that Batman join the Sinestro Corps, if ever he had the opportunity to wear a yellow ring again.73 Lex Luthor and Batman discover Nightwing's fate After being forced to follow Lex Luthor's lead, begrudgingly, the pair discovered Nightwing trapped within an Apokoliptian device called the Murder Machine, deep within the ruins of the Justice League Satellite. Dick warned, though, that the device he was strapped to was synced with his heart rate, such that they would either blow up with the device, or they would have to kill him. Despite Dick's begging, Bruce refused to leave him. More decisively, Lex chose to suffocate Dick until his heart stopped, buying them the time to get him out of the machine and then resuscitate him.74 He had, in fact, given Dick a pill that would stop his heart temporarily, requiring a shot of adrenaline before brain death. Once Dick was revived, he, Batman, and Catwoman escaped to seek out the remainder of the Justice League. With a plan to use Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth to pull the League out of the Firestorm Matrix and Steve Trevor out of action though, Martian Manhunter appointed Batman to be the one to wield the Lasso, because of his connection to Wonder Woman. Using it, he saved the imprisoned heroes while Lex and his allies defeated the Crime Syndicate. Afterwards, despite his closeness with Catwoman, Batman insisted that they could not start a romance together, and returned home with Dick. Having been presumed dead, Batman offered him an opportunity to take advantage of his compromised identity by joining Spyral. In the meantime, Gotham had become a war zone between the inmates of Arkham Asylum and the inmates of Blackgate Penitentiary the latter of whom were led by Bane.75 As victor, Bane claimed the mantle of the Bat for himself, requiring Batman to wrest it back from him. When Bane was safely imprisoned in Arkham, Bruce Wayne promised funds to improve the asylum's security and to the city's restoration.76 Soon after taking control of the city again, Batman experienced a blast from the past when Erin McKillen returned to Gotham to meet with the other crime families to take back the city from the "freaks". McKillen's return caused a conflict with Two-Face, who received his famous scars from McKillen. After Batman managed to stop the two from killing each other, McKillen was arrested, her plan thwarted, and Two-Face, disillusioned with his life, shot himself through the head.77 Batman Eternal When a mysterious malefactor came to Gotham City with a yearlong plot to destroy Batman's life, phase one of the mastermind's scheme involved framing Commissioner Gordon for the murders of a derailed train car full of people, which Batman swore to exonerate him for. Simultaneously, the mastermind invited former Gotham mob boss Carmine Falcone back from his refuge in Hong Kong to initiate a gang war with the Penguin, again to add another conflict on Batman's hands. However, despite the corrupt replacement Commissioner Forbes' interference, Batman, with the help of the GCPD, captured the two gang leaders, seemingly putting their war to an end.78 Arkham Asylum is destroyed While hunting for Hush, a criminal that was hired to participate in the real mastermind's plan, Batman had his first - albeit indirect - encounter with The Spoiler, who used him to save her from assassin Eduardo Flamingo who had been after her because she knew something about the secret of the attack on Gotham.79 Another part of the plot to wear down Batman was to resurrect the evil cult leader Deacon Blackfire in Arkham Asylum, but this plan was (mostly) foiled by Batwingand Jim Corrigan. However, the building of Arkham Asylum was destroyed in the process, setting its inmates loose in Gotham.80 When Batman finally managed to catch Hush, it was too late - Batman had been distracted so long that the real conductor had totally cleaned out all of Batman's secret gadget caches and sold them to his enemies.81 While still searching for who was behind this complicated conspiracy, Batman set his sights on Ra's al Ghul who, also, was another red herring.82 Batman's allies rally around him Upon Bruce discovered that while he'd been distracted chasing down leads, the city was on fire, and its infrastructure had been turned against the citizens. He then, at last, received an invitation back to Beacon Tower, to watch the end of everything he cared about. When he arrived, the one who met him there was The Cluemaster.83However, despite all the Cluemaster's taunting and explanations as to how he pulled the scheme over on Bruce, he was unexpectedly murdered by the one who had really been behind it all - Lincoln March - the man who believes himself to be Bruce's younger brother.84 In their battle, Bruce found himself too weak to fight, but was bolstered when Jim Gordon called on the entire city to take on the role of Batman and be heroes for the sake of their own city. Soon, Batman's allies rallied around him, and it was Spoiler who beat March down - though he escaped into the sewers, only to be caught by the Court of Owls. Following Arkham Asylum's destruction, Batman allowed Wayne Manor to be the temporary home to its inmates, and even went into the new asylum undercover as the dead man "Jack Shaw" to investigate a series of murders. Despite solving the mystery, and having the opportunity to get his home back, Bruce let the city keep the Manor until they were able to erect a permanent replacement in the wake of the recent attack on Gotham.85 Robin Rises Eventually, Batman decided at last to begin the search for Ra's al Ghul and the stolen bodies of Damian and Talia. When Batman had finally tracked down Ra's and successfully defeated him, Damian's sarcophagus was stolen by Glorious Godfrey and taken back to Apokolips. Ignoring the League's dissent, he snuck onto the Satellite to steal a specialized Batsuit designed to help him survive against the threat of Apokolips.86 Damian is resurrected at last While Batman fought his way to Glorious Godfrey on Apokolips, his family decided that they would not allow him to fight this battle alone and kidnapped Cyborg, forcing him to open a Boom Tube that would get them to Apokolips as well. Before they left, Alfred gave each of them a new costume resembling that of Robin to remind them who they fought for.87 After questioning Godfrey, Batman united with his allies and learned that Darkseid's son Kalibak was using a powerful stone known as the Chaos Crystal and Damian's sarcophagus to power a weapon called the Chaos Cannon that could destroy an entire moon.88 Batman's arrival on Apokolips roused even Darkseid himself, who challenged the determined father. Managing to get to Damian's body, Batman thrust the charged Chaos Crystal shard into Damian's chest and restored him.89 Escaping Darkseid's world through a Boom Tube, it was then that they discovered Damian's resurrection from the Chaos Crystal had given him super-human abilities.90 which wore off after some time.91 Endgame While recovering from an attack by the Scarecrow, Batman was attacked by a Jokerized Justice League, signaling the Joker had returned again at last.92 After subduing the Justice League, Batman then learned that the newest doctor at Arkham Asylum - Eric Border - had actually been the Joker in disguise all along. The madman, shedding his disguise in front of the hero, activated a toxin in Gotham that rendered all of its citizens Jokerized.93 The Joker returns, this time motivated by hatred Looking for a cure for the new strain of toxin, Batman sought patient zero at the hospital for an antibody, but discovered that patient zero was Joe Chill, the murderer of his parents. After hearing many rumors from friends and enemies alike, Batman began to believe that the Joker could possibly be immortal thanks to an exposure to the element Dionesium, a component found in Lazarus Pits.94 By the time Batman had discovered the fabled pool of Dionesium that had been in the Joker's system, the villain had found him and attacked him in the tunnels. They fought brutally until both of them were near death, and as the cavern collapsed around them, Bruce held the Joker back from the healing pool, forcing him to acknowledge that he had not been around for centuries as he'd claimed. Together, Batman and the Joker died in that cave. When Batman's dead body was discovered in the rubble of the collapsed cavern, he suddenly came awake, apparently revived by the Dionesium within the cavern's pit. Alfred discovered that the revival had had the profound effect of remaking Bruce's brain from scratch - with no''memories of his past life. Alfred told him all that he felt necessary, but withheld the fact that Bruce had been the Batman. Bruce - a new man - had not wanted to know anyway.95 He later reunited with Julie Madison and began working with her at the Lucius Fox Center for Gotham Youth.96 After seeing firsthand just how awful the effects of the new super villain Mister Bloom's attacks were, Bruce's feelings on the issue were resolved, and he decided to accept being Batman again.97Despite Alfred's efforts, Bruce made it past him to the Batcave and discovered a device his former self had built in order to create clones who would have all of Batman's skills and memories. Bruce used the machine to get his memories back and returned at last to the role that killed him before.98 The newly returned hero faced and defeated Mister Bloom and was returned the title of Batman from its current owner - Jim Gordon.99 I Am Gotham, I Am Suicide, I Am Bane Batman, Gotham and Gotham Girl While reestablishing himself as the protector of Gotham, Batman was greeted by two new super-powered heroes - Gotham and Gotham Girl - who he began to trust to serve the city.100 However, the two rookies soon found themselves victims of the mind-altering villain Psycho-Pirate, who was working under the instruction of Hugo Strange.101 Batman later discovered both men had been recruited to put a stop to the level of crime in Gotham City by Amanda Waller, but Strange had betrayed that mission.102 Psycho-Pirate drove Gotham into a rage, causing him to kill criminals in an attempt to prevent crime, while simultaneously rendering Gotham Girl a nervous wreck. With the help of the Justice League, Batman was able to restrain Gotham, but the overexertion of his powers killed Gotham.103 Batman, wanting to find Psycho-Pirate to force him to fix Gotham Girl, discovered he had escaped to foreign nation of Santa Prisca and was under the protection of Bane. In order to get the Pirate back, Batman was encouraged by Waller to assemble a team that was practically "''suicidal." He recruited a number of villains from Arkham Asylum: Ventriloquist, Bronze Tiger, Punch and Jewlee, and finally Catwoman, who was being held on 237 counts of murder.104 The mission was a success; Batman and his team escaped with Psycho-Pirate and left Bane beaten.105 Bruce later discovered Selina had taken the blame for the murders in order to protect her friend Holly Robinson, who had really committed the killings. She knew that if she took the fall, Batman would never let her die on death row and Holly's life would be saved.106 Bane returned to Gotham to seek revenge on Batman for humiliating him.107 He fought and defeated dozens of Batman's rogues at Arkham Asylum to get to Batman, culminating in a fight between the two. Bruce emerged victorious, albeit barely.108 After the Justice League were forced to team up with the Suicide Squad to fend off Maxwell Lord's nefarious plot for peace, Batman recruited an assembly of heroes and villains he thought could do some good to form the new Justice League of America.109 Gotham Knights Batman and Batwoman lead the Gotham Knights Batman discovered he was being monitored by surveillance equipment, and after investigating he discovered Gotham's other heroes were being monitored as well. He recruited his cousin Kate Kane, also known as the vigilante Batwoman, to form a new team dedicated to combating this threat. The duo formed a bootcamp for young heroes that would become known as the Gotham Knights, consisting of Red Robin, Orphan, Spoiler and a newly reformed Clayface;110 although the team would later recruit Batwing and Azrael as well. The Gotham Knights fought threats such as the Colony, a U.S. government agency dedicated to creating an army of soldiers modeled around Batman headed by Bruce's uncle (and Kate's father) Colonel Jacob Kane,111 the Victim Syndicate, a team of victims caught up in Batman's war on crime who sought revenge,112 the League of Shadows, an offshoot of the League of Assassins headed by Lady Shiva,113 and the Order of St. Dumas.114 The team fell apart after Batwoman killed Clayface, who had gone rogue and was about to destroy the city. Batman objected to her use of lethal force, dividing the team and ultimately leading to its collapse.115 The Button Batman holding the mysterious button Following his discovery of a mysterious button lodged in the walls of the Batcave, Bruce attempted to research the button to no apparent avail until, one day, it had a reaction when placed near Psycho-Pirate's mask. Seemingly connected, Reverse-Flash broke into the Batcave and began to wallop Batman until he was mysteriously disintegrated by a being he claimed was God.116 In an attempt to discover who had killed Reverse-Flash and was manipulating the timestream, Batman and the Flash used the Cosmic Treadmill to follow the button's radiation and landed in the timeline Barry had created after he had gone back in time to save his mother. There, Bruce met the version of his father from that reality who had himself become Batman after the death of his son.117 Thomas Wayne encouraged Bruce to stop being Batman, and instead seek happiness.118 Batman and Flash managed to escape the collapsing timeline and return to their world with the help of Jay Garrick, who was stuck in the Speed Force.119 Following his father's advice and motivated by a conversation with Gotham Girl, Bruce decided to seek happiness in his life and proposed to Catwoman using the diamond she had stolen when they first met,120 and she accepted.121 Invasion of the Dark Multiverse : Main article: Dark Nights: Metal For some time, Bruce had been investigating the power of mysterious metals that he believed had been impacting the world since the dawn of mankind. By the time it was too late, Batman discovered that he had been selected by the demon Barbatos to be the vessel for his invasion of the Multiverse.122 Over the years, the Court of Owls, who were in fact worshippers of Barbatos, had exposed him to four of the five heavy metals required to open the portal to the Dark Multiverse. They exposed him to the final metal, Batmanium, which transformed Bruce into a doorway, allowing Barbatos and his army of Dark Knights to enter.123 Bruce Wayne faces Barbatos in the Dark Multiverse While his Justice League teammates fought the Dark Knights, Bruce's mind was trapped in the nightmarish Dark Multiverse. There, Barbatos told him that he first saw Batman when he was sent back in time to the dawn of man, and he had shaped Bruce's life in order to lead him to this point.124 Superman attempted to restore Batman, but he too was captured in the Dark Multiverse.125 With the help of Wonder Woman and Lady Blackhawk, Batman and Superman were rescued. Batman defeated the Batman Who Laughs, the leader of the Dark Knights, by teaming up with his most unlikely ally, the Joker. The Over-Monitor told the Justice League of the power of the Tenth Metal, Element X - the most powerful metal of all. Through channeling the tiny amount of Element X present in every living human being, the heroes were able to restore the Multiverse to its normal state, however in the process they shattered the Source Wall, the wall surrounding the Multiverse. As the League prepared to face any and all threats this could cause, Bruce presented his plans for a new Hall of Justice.126 Rules of Engagement The Superfriends Following his engagement, Batman and Catwoman traveled to Khadym, the nation Holly Robinson had fled to, where she was under the care of Talia al Ghul. Selina was able to fight off Talia and speak to Holly, and she convinced her to clear her name of the murder charges. While Bruce was away from Gotham, Alfred informed Dick, Jason, Duke and Damian of the engagement. Despite his initial doubts, Damian accepted his father's decision.127 When Batman returned to Gotham, he was encouraged by Catwoman to tell his closest friend Superman of his engagement. Batman, Superman, Catwoman and Lois Lane went on a double date; a rare occasion in which the two heroes got to spend time together outside of crime fighting.128 Wonder Woman arrived in Gotham, informing Batman that The Gentle Man had decided to take them up on an offer. Years ago, Batman and Wonder Woman discovered The Gentle Man, a man who endlessly protected Earth from the invasion of creatures from another realm. They offered him the chance to take his place for a day and he had decided to take them up on their offer. The Gentle Man failed to tell the heroes that time passed differently in this realm; while they spent what felt like years in battle, mere hours had passed on Earth.129 While alone for so many years, Batman and Wonder Woman almost gave in to a romantic attraction, but refrained out of love for their partners. Catwoman forced The Gentle Man to swap places with Batman and Wonder Woman once more.130 In an attempt to instil peace across the planet and protect Earth from destruction at humans' hands, Poison Ivyused her command over plant matter to take control of the minds of the entire planet's population, forcing them to live in harmony. Batman managed to inject himself and Catwoman with an antidote, leaving them the only people unaffected.131 He theorized that due to Ivy's love and care for Harley Quinn, her control over her wasn't as deep as everyone else. Batman executed a plan to get to Harley while Catwoman incapacitated Ivy long enough for him to break her mind control. He successfully managed to get through to Harley and escorted her to Ivy. Harley comforted the distressed Ivy and was able to convince her to relinquish her control over humanity.132Category:Dc Comics Characters